Polite or Healthy?

A few nights ago we hosted a potluck dinner at our house for three other couples who attend our church.

We had the main meal and assigned salad, bread, and dessert to the other couples.

What I've found in situations like this is... you can be either polite or healthy. Not both.

The couple we assigned the dessert to loves to make desserts. Absolutely loves it. When we told her she got dessert, she replied that she was hoping she'd get assigned that.

So when she came over with two moist cakes topped with Cool Whip, my wife and I couldn't say no.

I guess we could have... but that would have been impolite. Our guest probably would have gotten her feelings hurt.

This isn't the first time I've been in a situation like this. In fact, there have been many times I've wanted to say no, but felt obligated to say yes.

I mean, how do you say no to your grandmother-in-law who adores you and just wants you to keep eating more and more and more? How do you explain to someone you're trying eat healthier when she can't even comprehend a definition of health as strict as the one you have?

It can certainly be awkward.

Do have experiences like mine? What have you done to be polite and healthy at the same time?

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Comments

[Jonathan Graham]

Wouldn't you just view 'healthyness' as a trend instead of some instantaneous value?

At one time there was a girl at my workplace who I was cooperating with in becoming more healthy. I would regularly drop by her desk to discuss our progress and while I was there - eat a box of smarties. This would drive her nuts as by any objective measure I was progressing better than her. Why? Because one box of smarties (or one slice of said dessert) even at some regular interval is irrelevant when ones other practises are healthy.

[Stephen Weinberg]

I train in aikido (a japanese martial art) with my girlfriend who is a nutritionist. While we both tend towards health there are a lot of times where we need to choose between being social - going out for dinner after class and having a beer and a burger, or being healthy - going home and cooking chicken and not having the alcohol. While we still go out a fair bit, the biggest change has been that we don't expect the social evening to be anything other than what it is - a social evening. And if we feel bad the next morning we aren't surprised or upset by it, it was part of the choice we made when we decided to go out.